The Tree
by Sakaki-chan11
Summary: Sasami is having bad dream again that seem almost too real. Then, a boy shows up and claims to be...her fiance! My secound fic to date! Chapter 3 is finally updated. Expect plenty of updates over spring break.
1. Default Chapter

**I don't own Tenchi Muyo** (I wish I did, but sadly….) Well, anyway. Please enjoy my second fic!!!

The Tree

By Shoko-Chan

Chapter 1 

It was a calm morning in the Masaki household, mainly because barely anyone was up. The single stirring soul was Sasami, who was merrily chopping vegetables while humming a cheerful tune. Ryo-Ohki yawned lazily and looked at a nearby carrot, looking quickly up at Sasami and back longingly to the vegetable set in front of her. "Go ahead. I think I have enough anyway," Sasami said, a smile playing across her face. As Ryo-Ohki pounced on the carrot, Tenchi walked into the kitchen, dressed in his shrine-tending robe.

"Good morning Sasami. You sure are up early," Tenchi said. He sniffed the air. "Smells delicious…What is it?"

"It's just some stir fry," she said, blushing at Tenchi's complement.

"We sure do appreciate you cooking for us. It must be a hard job. Well, I've got to be off to the shine. I need to do some sweeping. Bye!" Tenchi said, walking out of the room.

Sasami sighed and kept chopping. She had remembered her dream from last night. She'd had many of the same kind, but this one seemed more vivid and real then normal. It scared her…Tsunami, Tenchi, Ayeka, everyone had left her…all alone, she had cried out for help, but no one came. So she sat there, helpless and vulnerable. Then, she was in the Jurian Tree room. She had stopped crying and looked a small girl…herself…wandering through the platforms as the ground shook beneath. She watched on in horror as the young girl fell off the platform, but didn't assimilate with Tsunami. She just lay there, motionless, bleeding…dead…As she looked on, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned and saw a boy about her age. That had jerked Sasami out of sleep in a sweat. She couldn't go back to sleep, so she got up early and cooked.

She realized that she had been chopping a zukini so thin, you could on seen through it and shook her head out of depression.

A loud crash was heard in the living room. "Oh god…why did I have all that sake?" Ryoko moaned from off the railing. Sasami sighed as she dropped the vegetables into the frying pan as she listened to the people in the other room.

"Ryoko, seriously, must you wake us all up? It's not our fault you're a drunken fool," Ayeka's voice said from the next room.

"Well miss goody-goody, some of us walk on the wild side. Beside, Tenchi wouldn't go for girl who can't have a little fun!"

"Well what makes you think he'd go for an overbearing hussy like you?"

Loud crashing reached Sasami's ears. She figured she better break it up before anyone got hurt. "Breakfast is almost ready!" she shouted, walking into the living room. Ryoko had some of Ayeka's hair in her fist and Ayeka had her nails digging in to the demon's arm. "Honestly, I wish you to would stop fighting all the time," Sasami said scolding them. Mihoshi and Washu walked in. Mihoshi was wearing some pajamas with ducks.

"What is all the racket out here? Are you two fighting again?" Washu said angrily. "I swear you two are at each other's throats more often then usual lately. It must be because of the festival tomorrow."

"Oh, I almost forgot! I need to finish my new kimono for tomorrow," Sasami said, smiling. "Oh, breakfast is ready everyone!" she said, remembering her vegetables simmering in the kitchen.

**Later that day…**

Sasami sat outside, sowing away on a kimono. She sat by the lake, the wind blowing softly against her face. She heard footsteps behind her. "Hello," she said behind her, not looking to see who it was.

"Hello," an unfamiliar voice said back. Sasami whipped her head around and her mouth dropped. "So, you recognise me…"

"What are you doing here? I told you to leave me alone!"

"But how can I? We were ment to be and…"

"No!" Sasami said, leaping up and running off into the woods, her kimono in hand. Tears gushed down her face as she ran.

Meanwhile, Tenchi was cleaning up the shrine, sweeping, scrubing, and other chores. He was scrubing the floors when he heard her coming up behind him. "Sasami, what's wrong?" Sasami wouldn't answer, she just kept crying. Tenchi gave her a confused, sympathetic look and hugged her.

From the shadows, the figure watched smiling…


	2. Chapter 2, part 1

Chapter Two

Back inside the house…

"I don't know what happened. When I found her, she was crying and…I don't know," Tenchi explained to the others. Sasami was in the other room, cooking lunch. Cooking always made her feel better.

"I wonder what's wrong?" Mihoshi said, hands clasped and obviously worried. Beside herself, Sasami was the happiest person in the house.

"I'll go and talk to her once she's calmed down," Ayeka said in a rather sisterly tone. She sighed and looked to the door. She didn't want to tell the others, but she felt she knew what was going on.

Back in the kitchen, Sasami sat at the table, her hands in her lap. She starred blankly at them, her eyes wide. _Why…why did he come back? I thought I got rid of him. _Tears began to well up in her eyes and fell to her apron. She wiped them off and shook her head. "Why won't he leave me alone?" she whispered to herself.

"Because we are supposed to be together forever…" she heard the voice say in her ear. She turned and stood up, knocking over her chair and causing a loud crash as it fell to the ground.

She grabbed her head as a painful headache surged through it. "What do you want from me Kurijo?" She said, falling to the ground. It felt as if needles were pushed into her skull.

"I want to be with you. Come back and marry me Sasami. Like you promised when we were kids. You remember, don't you?" He said, smiling at her and leaning down. His lips went up to her ear. "You promised to be my bride."

"No! Never!" She screamed, pushing Kurijo away from her and staggering from off of the ground. She glared at him and spoke sternly, the tears coming forth again. "I would never marry someone like you. Someone who's hurt me so much…someone who's lied to me and broken my heart! So leave me alone!"

He looked at her, his crystal blue eyes surging with emotion. "If you won't be willingly, I'll make you!" he said, and immediately, Sasami's eyes went grey and she fell to the floor with a thud. Kurijo smirked and disappeared.

Washu turned her head to the kitchen where the crash came from. "What was that?" she murmured to the others. Everyone traveled into the kitchen and gasped at what they saw. Sasami lay on the ground, her eyes grey and her chest barely moving up and down, the chair knocked over next to her, the vase broken on the table.

Ayeka fell to the floor, cradling Sasami in her arms. She sat there for a few minutes, just looking at the limp body. "Ayeka…" Tenchi began, putting his hand on her shoulder. Then he saw silent tears fell from her eyes and she hugged her sister tight.

((The otherpart of this chapteris coming really soon. Sorry, I've been busy. Thanks so much for your kind reviews. This is for you guys!))


	3. Chapter 2, part 2

Chapter 2, part 2

"Where am I?"

Sasami awoke to the gentle breeze blowing in from the open French doors on the other end of the room. She was laying in a large, white linen bed and was surrounded by a beautiful victorian room. She was dressed in a light white nightgown that felt as soft as Ryo-Ohki's fur after bath time. Stunned, shocked, and rather dizzy, she hadn't noticed the stranger sitting tentively at her bedside.

The young man was rather handsome. Blonde-white hair was held loosely back in a ponytail, and he was dressed in a casual, but still very nicely pressed white shirt and plain black jeans. His eyes were an amazing, deep green and that captivated Sasami, until she fell from her trance to realize that he was softly brushing her hand with his fingers.

"What do you want from me?" Sasami hissed at him, ripping her hand away from his grasp.

"Why, you know exactly what I want. And it doesn't seem like such an unreasonable offer. You can live here with me. And we can get married and be with each other forever…" Kurijo leaned towards her, as if to give her a light kiss, but she gave him a disdainful look. He stood and walked to the open French doors leading to the terasse. "I hope you've found the accomedations to your liking. Breakfast will be served shortly. I thought we could go down for it together, but it seems that you need a bit of time to adjust to your new home, so I shall send someone to escort you." He walked over to her slowly and sat down on the bed. Slowly, his hand went around her waist as he pulled her close to him, "Give this all a chance. Give **me** a chance." His hand softly brazed her cheek. "I could make you the happiest girl in the world."

"I was happy." A tear began to run down her cheek as she pushed him away and fell back into the soft covers.

Kurijo sighed and exited through the great wooden doors on one wall of the room, leaving Sasami to cry hopelessly in her pillow.

"Well, she's still alive. Give her here and let's see what kind of diagnosis I can give." Washu said with a twang of sympathy.

Ayeka slowly let go of her sister and curled into Tenchi's arms as Washu poked and prodded at Sasami's motionless figure. "Slow pluse and breathing rate…normally, I would have said she's fainted, but her eyes are wide open. Perhaps another out of body episode?"

"But then just what was that scream we heard before? Could someone be attacking her soul?" Ryoko crossed to meet them from the other side of the room.

"But who would want to attack her? She's just a child" Mihoshi stated from Tenchi's side.

"But you know how great a power she holds…" Washu turned slowly towards Ayeka. "Would you mind if I run some tests to see what is happening? In my lab I mean."

From out of sobs, the princess gave a small nod. And with that, Washu began to cart the body through the porthole.


	4. Chapter 3

((Okay, I know I took awhile for that last update, but I'm a high school student with finals and mid-terms. I'm a freshmen getting used to everything. So give me a break. I have no free time. I'll try and be better.))

**Chapter 3**:

About 15 minutes after his exit, one of Kurijo's servants came through the wooden door leading out to a hallway. She was a pretty girl, probably Ayeka's age. Sasami felt a warm sort of glow about her as she came and sat by her bedside. But it was not enough to stop her aggravation.

"Excuse, Miss Sasami, but his lordship requests your presence at the dinning hall for breakfast." She gave a soft smile and began tiding up the bed sheets.

"Tell him I'm not hungry and I won't eat until he sends me home!"

"Oh, now what is the problem?" She took Sasami's hands in hers and looked her in the eyes. "I see no reason for your unhappiness. His lordship is a fine young man, and he truly cares for you. Why he's spoken of nothing but you since I've worked here. He loves you, you know. It breaks his heart that your acting so cold towards him." She crossed to close the French doors, and then pulled the large white drapes across the windows.

"I never asked to be kidnapped here. He took me from my home, my family, Ayeka, Tenchi…" Sasami shook the tears out of his eyes and continued, "Besides, it's not as if I'm not grateful for all of this…but I don't love him like that. It would be wrong of me to mislead him in the first place."

The servant gave her a pleasant smile and extended her hand. "What's the harm of coming down to eat? I could hear your stomach from the other side of the room."

Sasami giggled and stood out of the bed. "I am just a bit hungry...I guess it would be alright."

At Tenchi's home…

"All of her vital signs are…a bit softer than normal. I'm getting vivid brain signals though. That seems the only part of her that's as active as it should be." Washu turned to face everyone who was crowded around Sasami's limp body, which was propped up on a floating table. "It's almost as if…as if she's only dreaming."

"Awful violent scream before for just a dream, wouldn't you say Doc?" Ryoko piped, poking the body with one of her fingers.

Ayeka slapped her hand away. "This is no time to be joking Ryoko. Have you forgotten that we could also be in danger? If Sasami is incapacitated, then what about Tsunami? If the something or someone that took her is extremely dangerous, then Tenchi would hardly be able to help us fend it off." She wiped her hand quickly across her eyes and clutched to Tenchi's arm. "The best thing to do is find out what is happening with Sasami." She slowly turned her head toward Washu. "Is there anything we can do? To help, I mean?"

"I don't know. It's too soon to tell. The diagnosis will take awhile." The scientist turned and smiled at them, "I don't suppose anyone in this house would want to cook some lunch. I hardly trust any of you to cook, but you could try."

The girls knodded and began out the door. Tenchi looked after them and called out "Is there anything I can do?"

"Well Tenchi, you could always help me out in the lab," Washu said, slowly approaching him and grinning eagerly.

"Over my dead body!" Ryoko said, grabbing him and pulling him into the kitchen.


End file.
